


in the land that our grandchildren knew

by Cheeky_The_Monkey



Series: out-of-time bros [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: deke and sousa have a bonding session, not romance but can be interpreted that way if it floats your boat, out-of-time bros, set post 7x04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:01:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24842701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_The_Monkey/pseuds/Cheeky_The_Monkey
Summary: To say Daniel was confused when he woke up would be an understatement, so Deke decides to try and help him come to terms with his new situation.akaThe out-of-time bros have a chat.
Relationships: Deke Shaw & Daniel Sousa
Series: out-of-time bros [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797439
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84





	in the land that our grandchildren knew

**Author's Note:**

> so these two nerds haven't had any canon interactions yet, but the parallels!!  
> title from '39 by Queen
> 
> also i might make this a series if people want more out-of-time bros content

The Zephyr was in a hurry, and everyone was busy with various tasks as they prepared for their venture out into the 1970s. Mack and Coulson were pacing around as if they would devise a plan just by walking. Yo-Yo and May were trying to get a clear idea of their surroundings. Simmons was analyzing the latest time jump to the best of her ability- which was genius-level, of course. Though it was painfully obvious that she was missing Fitz, she was doing very well managing everything on her own. 

And since Daisy was on clothes shopping duty, Deke was left standing around aimlessly with nothing to do. As usual.

Sometimes he wondered if the others forgot he was a part of the team. Maybe they actually did, or maybe they just thought he’d be better off with no actual tasks to do. Not that he was complaining, he got some time off, but he’d feel a lot better if he felt like he was contributing to the team, rather than just essentially being their paperboy. 

But that day the Zephyr held an extra passenger. It hadn’t escaped Deke that Daniel Sousa had slunk away whilst everyone was scurrying around. 

“Deke, can you go and check on Sousa?” Asked Simmons, without looking away from the screen of the tablet in her hand.

“Oh, uh, sure.” He called back. Finally, a proper task that he could actually do some good with! After his run-in with Freddy, he desperately needed some validation for his actions. And it wasn’t like his Nana was just trying to get rid of him, right?

Right?

But as he walked towards the room where he caught a glimpse of Sousa sitting on the table with his back to the door, cane at his side, he suddenly felt a pang of fear. What was he supposed to say? He wasn’t sure exactly how many of Sousa’s questions Coulson had answered, and he definitely didn’t want to be the one to do all the messy explaining. The guy had just been told he’s supposed to be dead and was taken aboard a time-traveling plane from the future. That wasn't an easy thing to brush over.

At least he had the experience with time travel, he could always lead with that.

No turning back now, he thought, as he knocked rapidly on the doorframe.

“Knock knock!” He said as positively as he could.

Sousa twisted himself to face him, brows furrowed.

“I just wanted to check on how you’re doing, sir,” Deke continued, “since I, uh, didn’t get to say hi before.” He hesitantly walked further into the room. “I’m Deke by the way.”

After taking him in for a moment, Sousa outstretched his hand. “Daniel,” he said, “but you probably already knew that.” he added with a tired, humourless laugh.

“Yeah.” Deke answered apologetically, taking a seat beside the weary-but-still-kinda-intimidating man. “So, how are you doing?”

“Honestly?” Said Daniel. “I’m absolutely exhausted. It’s a lot to take in… I think I’m gonna need a bit of time to process all this.”

He gestured around the room, but Deke noticed that his eyes had settled on the modern SHIELD logo.

“Hey, at least you’re not dead, right?” Laughed Deke.

Sousa didn’t seem to find it that funny.

“Are you sure that’s a good thing?” 

This caught Deke off-guard. “What-What do you mean? Of course it is! You’d rather be dead than alive and going on adventures and saving the world?!”

“Apparently I’m supposed to be dead,” Sousa countered, “what difference would it make? I know nothing of the future, what exactly am I expected to do here? Hobble around and pretend I know what’s going on?”

Deke couldn’t help but scoff. “I know the feeling.”

Now this caught Daniel’s attention, and he shifted his position to face Deke directly, raising an eyebrow. “What, you get kidnapped to the future after being told you’re dead too?”

“Something like that.”

Deke grinned when Sousa’s jaw dropped open. “Wait, seriously?”

He nodded, and Daniel leaned back with a long exhale. 

“But, uh, I’m from the future.” Deke corrected after a few seconds of awkward silence. “Further in the future. A future that probably doesn’t even exist anymore.” 

“Huh.”

He didn’t elaborate. He didn’t want to put poor Agent Sousa through anything else, especially not the dystopian future that SHIELD stopped from coming to fruition. He would thank him someday.

Daniel cleared his throat. “So, did you… did you get to say goodbye to the people you cared about?”

No, Deke never got to say goodbye. He didn’t have many friends in the Lighthouse (he survived by thinking it was every man for himself) but the few he did have meant a lot to him. He never said goodbye to Tess. He never said goodbye to Flint. Hell, he never even got to say goodbye to Virgil. For all they knew, he’d been blown up by the monolith or something.

He missed them. The rest of the team seemingly kept on forgetting that he’s not from their time and that he’d lived a whole other life. You don’t forget that in a year.

“Not really, but you forget about that after a while.” He lied.

Daniel didn’t look satisfied with that answer, and he looked down at his hands in his lap, deep in thought. “God,” he muttered under his breath, “I don’t- why’s all the weird stuff gotta happen to me?”

Slightly awkwardly, Deke put one of his hands over Daniel’s and squeezed it comfortingly. Or at least he thought it would be comforting. Personally, he wasn't great at contact. “I get that you’re probably super disorientated right now, and I totally get that, but I promise that you’ll get used to it. The others… they’ve never experienced what we have. Never been torn from their world and then dumped into a different time. They tend to prioritize the mission over many things-”

“As SHIELD agents should.” Sousa interrupted sternly.

“Yeah,” continued Deke, “but I’m just saying that I’m not like that.”

He sighed, pulled his hand back, and stood up. “I guess what I’m trying to say is if you need any help with the whole future thing, I’m your guy.” His grin spread. “And hey, hopefully, once we beat the chronicoms, I can show you some awesome stuff I found in their time. Like, have you ever tried an ice cream sundae?”

“Yes.”

“Uh, okay, bad example, but I promise you there’s so much cool stuff to see.”

He paused and noticed Sousa’s expression. He suddenly looked a hundred more times exhausted than before, his forehead was crinkled in thought, and Deke felt slightly guilty for disturbing him.

“I’ll uh, go now. Give me a shout if you need anything, and I totally get if you don’t wanna go on the next mission.”

Daniel turned his head to look directly at him. 

“Thank you, Deke.” He said.

Deke smiled. “My pleasure, sir.”

“Daniel, please.”

Leaning on the doorframe, Deke nodded. “Daniel.”

He should have walked away. He should have left him alone. It was his cue to leave, and for once in his life he should have listened to it.

But he didn’t.

“Hey, Daniel?”

“Hm?” Replied Sousa wearily, unable to hide the surprise at Deke still lurking there.

“You wanna exchange stories sometime? I’m lucky enough to have my grandparents on the team, but unless any of them are your secret descendant it’ll help to talk to someone about it. Get it all off your chest.”

What he didn’t tell him was that nobody had been willing to listen when he’d been dragged back in time, nobody had really given him the time of day. The last thing he wanted was for someone to go through the same treatment as he had.

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Daniel replied with a forced smile, not-so-subtly asking for some time to himself.

This time, Deke obliged. And, with a last little wave, he left feeling a lot more whole inside.

He’d made a friend, someone who would actually listen to him hopefully, and someone that didn’t think he was beneath them. Talk about validation!

Coulson caught him as he was making his way to tell Simmons about his conversation with Sousa.

“How’s he doing?” He asked.

“He’s tired and disoriented,” Deke answered honestly, “I’d leave him alone for a bit.”

“I see.” Said Coulson, with that weird glimmer in his LMD eyes. “Good work, Agent Shaw.” 

And with that, Coulson walked away. Leaving Deke utterly gobsmacked. Had he been listening in to that entire conversation with his super robot hearing or something?

Or maybe his teammates did care after all.

**Author's Note:**

> can u tell i'm salty about how the team treats deke
> 
> Comments make my day! :D


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